India has called the allegations “propaganda”, and the Foreign Minister has stated that such assassinations are “not the government policy of India.”
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Police officers stand guard at the main entry gate of Pakistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in Islamabad, on January 18, 2024. (AP)
The Indian Foreign Ministry has disputed reports by The Guardian that it carried out scores of extrajudicial executions in Pakistan, slamming the claims as “false and malicious propaganda.”
According to intelligence operators in India and Pakistan, New Delhi began assassinations on foreign land in 2019 as part of a larger plot to eliminate alleged “terrorists”. According to The Guardian, the Indian government has ordered the execution of at least 20 individuals in Pakistan during the last four years, “drawing inspiration from intelligence agencies such as Israel’s Mossad and Russia’s KGB.”
The Foreign Ministry also reiterated an earlier comment by Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who stated that targeted assassinations in foreign nations were “not the policy of the government of India.”
Read more: India orders news outlet to omit army torture of civilians in Kashmir
Those statements came in September of last year, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau openly accused New Delhi of plotting the assassination of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar in Ontario, without presenting any proof.
Nijjar was campaigning to create an independent Sikh state in India called Khalistan.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh declared Friday that if somebody attempted terror attacks in India and fled to Pakistan, India would “follow him and take him down on Pakistani soil.”
Singh told Network18 in Hindi that India desires a positive relationship with its neighbors, “but if anyone shows India angry eyes again and again, comes to India, and tries to promote terrorist activities, we will not spare them.”
Ties between Pakistan and India have been frozen since 2019 when a terror attack in Kashmir targeted 40 officers from India’s Central Reserve Police Force and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration abolished Article 370 of India’s constitution, which invalidated Kashmir’s unique status.
New Delhi revoked Pakistan’s Most Favored Nation (MFN) trade designation and increased import duties, while Pakistan froze bilateral commerce and reduced diplomatic ties.
It is noteworthy that the territory of Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since its independence in 1947. Rebel groups have been fighting for more than three decades with Indian forces, demanding the freedom of Kashmir or its annexation to Pakistan.
Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers, and rebels have lost their lives in these years. India accuses Pakistan of supporting the militants.